Launched in 2010, Young British Designers celebrates and is home to a gorgeous collective of emerging British (of all ages!) fashion talent – I’m thrilled to introduce to you some of my favourite designers on the site. First up is Belize, a design duo…
… with influences from Paris and Berlin as well as London; good friends West Berliner Valeska Duetsch (formerly designing swimwear and lingerie at Stella McCartney) and Londoner Fiona Bansal (previously at Net-a-Porter) share a passion for ethnic details, weaving these into unique but modern pieces to create chic uniform dressing. In regards to the silken print dress I chose to feature, the duo tell me: “We are generally obsessed with patchwork! And when the prints arrived to our atelier, it just felt natural to combine them all in one dress!”
How I Wore It
Combining elegance with fun, mixing prints in dresses is hugely exciting right now, and mixed patchwork prints at NFW for SS19 showed this trend is not going to disappear, so definitely one you can settle in with. I couldn’t help myself tapping into the Little House on the Prairie vibes with my latest shoe obsession, hiking boot inspired styles – these Nanettes by Grenson have been flying of the shelves and are crazy comfy on the feet. Pairing them with a pretty dress is a brilliant contrast, wonderfully pulling in two different directions to create something that works!
Adding a trucker jacket cheekily adds to the mid-America vibes with a straw sunhat for good effect. Bringing things firmly back in place though is a smart little circle bag by Nico Giani, an Italian designer doing my favourite kind of bag – beautifully minimal and minus a crazy pricetag. I love this for an autumn look, and I’m already looking forward to wearing this incredible dress to quite a few different places – paired with boots or trainers, it can easily take you from day to night, no heels required!
I hope you enjoy the Polaroids! I’ve been having a play with the new Step+… !
Outfit
Dress | Belize
Jacket | Levi’s
Shoes | Grenson
Bag | Nico Giani
A creative project with Young British Designers, this post contains items gifted for review & affiliate links
